The Firefly's Growth
by TheGreatApple
Summary: A firefly youkai, discontent with her usual life involving her friends and their actions, decides to go on her own to better herself and find form relationships with new people. Join her as she partakes in her quest.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everybody. The Great Apple here.**

**I've had the idea for this story lounging around in my head for well over half of a year now, but never actually put extra thought as to how it'll all come out in the end. I'm still not entirely sure how this story will go, but I know I'm going to have fun writing out it out.**

**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Touhou Project was developed, published, and is property of Team Shanghai Alice. I own nothing.  
**

* * *

...

_"...Well, I guess ya look pretty cool enough. Welcome to the team, buggy girl."_

_"M-my name Wriggle... and tha-"_

_"Yeah, whatever, just come on!"_

...

_"Why'd ya always have that scarf on you? 'zit a part of your back or something?"_

_"It's a cape, not a scarf. And I like it. That's all you need to know."_

_"Whatever."_

...

_"You fought the shrine maiden? No wonder you got your butt kicked!"_

_"Shut up!"_

...

_"Dang it, Wriggly, ya messed it up! Our plan was going so well, too!"_

_"Cirno, it wasn't entirely her fault. She kind of got cor-"_

_"I don't care! 'Cuz of her this all went wrong! Don't be such a doofus next time!"_

_"S-sorry..."_

...

_"You did it again, Wriggle! This is what, the hundredth time you screwed it up? Why are you so bad at this?"_

_"I di-"_

_"Whatever, just save it. Don't mess up again. "_

_"...Sorry."_

* * *

"Alright, we all get this? Rumia?"

"I got it."

"Dai?"

"Yes."

"Mystia?"

"Yep!"

"Wriggle?"

"Yeah."

"...Chen?"

"Uh huh."

"Good." Cirno took at good look at her target; the massive field of sunflowers, and back to each of us. "Give the signal as soon as you see her. Get going. Wriggle, stay close to me, I don't want you messing things up again." With that, the other four flew quickly in separate directions while the ice fairy began walking towards and into the garden, myself close behind her.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Wriggle Nightbug, a firefly youkai with an ability to manipulate insects to do my bidding. I have teal hair with a pair of antennae, and a pair of blue eyes. While I actually don't really know my age, I'm not that old for a youkai. The group I'm with consists of myself, Mystia Lorelei, a Night Sparrow, Daiyousei, a greater fairy, Rumia, a youkai of darkness, Chen, a nekomata who joined us only about a month ago, and Cirno, an ice fairy and leader of our little group. We're notorious for messing around and pulling "pranks" on people similar to what we're doing now.

The plan was somewhat simple; Daiyousei, Rumia, Chen, and Mystia would fly to four opposite corners of the sunflower garden and keep a look out. If any of them happened to see the main threat to this prank, Yuuka Kazami, they were to shoot a signal bullet to tell everyone who she was closest to. Meanwhile, Cirno and I would find a place in the middle of the garden and wait for one of the four signals. Once one has been shot, we would move to the opposite corner, and Cirno would start freezing the garden, moving along as she did so. While she did that, I was supposed to keep an eye out for other youkai and fairies and take out any that seemed suspicious to what we were doing. The plan was to freeze as much of the garden as we could before we were forced to stop and make a quick getaway.

The only problem is that Cirno and I have been waiting for several minutes now, and we haven't gotten any signal. Looking around. I can see Rumia, Chen, and Daiyousei at their designated corners, but Mystia was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing she's attending to something of her own; she often disappears momentarily during planned "pranks" such as these to do something.

Personally, I want nothing to do with this plan. I like sunflowers. They're unique, the kind of beauty you don't often see. And our main concern is the dreaded Yuuka; if things go wrong and she catches us, I'm betting that she's going to make us suffer. On top of that, our scouts aren't the best; Chen, having only recently joined us after looking for something fun to do in her free time, doesn't have much experience with this, Rumia, being a youkai of darkness, isn't the best at searching far in the middle of the day, and Daiyousei simply isn't good at spotting. Normally I would be scouting alongside Mystia, but Cirno is concerned that I'm going to "ruin everything", which actually really bothers me.

And to be honest, I don't find much joy in being in this little group anymore. The activities we do are pretty silly, and in recent times our pranks (most of which I don't like to begin with) have been failing. And a majority of the time, I'm the one taking the blame for it, even if I'm not the one at fault. It's been miserable.

"...What's taking 'em so long?" Cirno's outburst broke my train of thought. "I'm thinking we might just start here if

they don't hurry up."

"Cirno, why are we even doing this? This is pretty risky. " I might as well speak my mind and hope she sees the consequences of failing.

But all I get is a turn and a questioning look. " What, ya' don't think you can do this?"

"I can. I just don't want to."

She's angry now. "...What's with you, lately? You've been acting strange for months now, keeping quiet n' always looking moody. It's like ya don't like sticking around anymore." Was it so obvious that someone as dense as her noticed?

"Cirno, I'm gonna be honest. I don't like being around that much anymore. And I can say that you're a big reason for that."

She turns her back towards me and proceeds to mess around with a block of ice she had constructed. "Then why stick around? You've been really useless lately, ya know? All of our-"

I've heard enough of how I was of no help, and she apparently forgot about looking for a sign from our friends, so I'm doing it fo-

Wait, what?

Mystia still hasn't shown up, but where's Daiyousei?

Turning around, Rumia and Chen are missing too.

This doesn't look good.

"...ven listening? If you're going to ignore me and think bad about this idea now, just go." Cirno's starting to annoy me, and her obliviousness to this situation isn't making things better.

"Like I said, I do not want to do this. I dislike this idea, I dislike the idea of freezing sunflowers, this plan is very stupid, Yuuka is probably going to find out and destroy us, and I am incredibly tempted just leave right now. Listen to me. Che-" What's poking my head?

"It seems your friend here has grown to be pretty mature, ice fairy. You could learn a thing or two from her."

Oh, crap.

"Turn around, both of you." The voice's threatening edge was more than enough for me, and I complied to find that it as indeed the flower-controlling youkai herself. Behind her were the other four, shaken and silent. "Your friends here didn't want to tell me what you were up to, and I was beginning to think that I may have to force it out of one of you six, I was lucky enough to arrive in time to hear you bring it up." Whatever was said or done to them, I don't want to figure out, but at this rate it seems I won't have much of a choice. Cirno seems to be scared as well, otherwise she'd be making some sort of remark.

This plan failed before it even began, it seems.

"You, fairy, come find the rest of your friends." Immediately, I see Cirno speed right by me and our captor and land next to Daiyousei. "You," I stiffen when Yuuka looks directly at me, a stern look on her face. "I want you to walk to your right and keep going until you find a clearing. It's not too far; go there and wait for me. If I don't find you there you'll be sorry."

I really don't want to do this; I have a feeling something bad is going to happen if I'm by myself with her. But I don't want to make her angrier either, so I might as well.

A few seconds after I headed down, I hear an explosion and drowned out screams of pain. I feel bad for them now; they couldn't have gotten away fine. Especially Chen, this was her first big failure. But as I'm not a part of that group, I'm starting to wonder; what is it that Yuuka wants with me? I can't think of a good explanation for what I'm doing now, and she seemed angry; is she going to try something new? If she is, am I the first to fall victim to it?

It didn't take long to find the clearing. There were two tree stumps. I make my way over to the one on the left and sit down on it. Not long after, Yuuka shows up from the same place I came and walks over to me.

"I'm pleased to find that you did what I told you to do. You're smarter than you were the last time you kids decided to mess with this place." She sits down on the opposite stump and look at me. "Your name was Wriggle, correct?"

Hesitantly, I nod.

"Please, try to relax a little. I may be intimidating, but you seem to know already that I don't take kindly to those who mess with these dear plants of mine. I promise I won't hurt you if you don't do anything dumb." She smiles. "Now, normally, I would have done the same to you as I had just done to your friends, but I'm a little bored right now, and I happened to hear you argue with the ice fairy, as well as you mentioning something about leaving them to do this on their own. And I like to think that I can help someone stop being stupid. So I'd like to simply talk to you."

This... was unexpected. I had always imagined that someone like Yuuka would resolve things by simple force. I'm actually a little shocked to find that she had apparently taken a liking to what I had said. "Okay... what is it you would like to talk about?"

"Your thoughts on that group you're in, obviously. Tell me; do you even enjoy the things you do with them?"

I might as well tell her the truth. She seems legitimately interested, and I don't see any way out of this. I tell her my thoughts on it all.

* * *

"I see.." Yuuka is giving this more thought than I had imagined she would. At least, the critical look on her face makes it seem so. "I can't say I've been down that road before, but I do understand that feeling, at least. To see everyone else turn blind to their faults and blame someone else, a scapegoat, to their failures.."

I couldn't help but sigh at that. "It really isn't enjoyable. Sometimes I dread going to spend sometime with them, even if it isn't all of them making it miserable." Outside of the team's activities, my friends are nice people. Mystia has some nice stories and can be fun to be around, Rumia knows how to make anybody laugh (though she can be creepy sometimes), Daiyousei is simply fun-loving and would enjoy any kind of activity, Chen is unexpectedly cunning and risky, and even Cirno, when she's on her own, can be amusing to spend time with.

"Then why don't you just spend some time alone for a little bit? Clear your thoughts and get away from the toxicity you feel from them? It should help you to find your answer, as well as let them learn a few lessons as well, yes~?"

"That..." Of course, I've thought about doing something like that before, but I would dismiss the idea, feeling it would be cowardly of me to abandon them just because I wasn't enjoying myself. But now that Yuuka's brought it up again, I don't see any reason I shouldn't. My reasons for thinking about leaving before were correct; If I'm forcing myself to stay with them and I'm having a terrible time, what reason do I have to stay? "...I could do that, yes. But I'm sick of pulling pranks and messing around. I've been doing so for years now; the longer I do it, The more time I'm wasting. I could be doing other things. If I'm leaving them, I don't think I'll be going back for a long time, if at all."

I guess that was good enough for Yuuka; she looks a less thoughtful and more relaxed. "If that's how you feel, then by all means, do what you believe is right." She smiles. "And if you would like to," she adds, "You're always welcome to come visit the garden, should you seek a place of solitude or would like to have another talk with me."

"I see." Talking with Yuuka was actually pretty enjoyable. I had nearly forgotten that I was hoping not to come across her at all less than half an hour ago. "I'll think about it. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure." With the conversation just about finished, Yuuka grabs her umbrella and stands, preparing to take her leave. "Go find your friends, I'm sure they went somewhere close by." With that, she's back in the mass of sunflowers. Seeing no reason to stay anymore, I take flight and begin searching for any of the team's members.

It's been... it's been over a decade that I've been with this crew, but I think I need to start moving on. I feel I can do something better out in Gensokyo, and I know that I will have to work hard for whatever it is. But staying with them won't help me anymore, nor will it make me feel any better.

I know what I have to do.

* * *

**I was going to add more to this, but this being just a small introduction to the story, I feel this is already longer than it should be.**

**I want to give thanks to a few friends whom helped me flesh out a bit of this chapter and beta-read. Made this come out a whole lot faster than it would have otherwise. **

**I'm not entirely sure if I will be including much action in this story, at least, not early on. I'm not the best at writing those kinds of scenes, and with a character like Wriggle, I feel it would be difficult. I don't think anyone wants to read a story about someone getting their butt kicked, and I think it would take a bit of time before I wrote anything that involved success for her.**

**I actually don't know when I'll have the next chapter up, but hopefully it will be soon.**

**Till then, I hope you liked it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again. This wasn't supposed to take so long, but I had a surprisingly tight schedule, and so I didn't have too much time to work on it. But it's here, and I hope you all enjoy it. **

******Disclaimer: Touhou Project was developed, published, and is property of Team Shanghai Alice. I own nothing.**

* * *

"Oh, there you are. Was startin' to think she killed ya."

"Please don't say that. Where's Mystia?"

"Left for her lamprey stand or somethin'. So what did she do, then? Ya don't look all that beat up."

"She didn't do anything. Look, Cirn-"

"Nothin'? Why? That ain't fair at all, you were a part of-"

"Cirno."

"What?"

"...I need to tell you something."

* * *

"Wriggle. Hey, wake up."

My recollection of yesterday was interrupted by a soft voice. Opening my eyes, though, I can see that it's well into the morning, perhaps about to pass into noon. I suppose now I should wake up now. Slowly setting myself up on the branch I had taken a rest on, I turn to look at who awoke me.

"...Hey, Misty. You doing okay?" I don't usually come across Mystia until some point in the afternoon or late at night, since she usually goes about her own various activities or getting rest. She has a lot to do; running a fried lamprey stand, practicing and performing with her yamabiko friend, and pulling pranks, each usually on a daily basis. I'm surprised she doesn't get overwhelmed by it all and sleep more than she does now. Today, though, I think I may have a good understanding as to why she's here waking me up.

"I'm doing fine, thank you. Did you sleep well?" Now that I'm awake, she allows herself a slow descent back to the grass beneath her. In turn, I grab my cape from underneath me and jump off the branch, landing beside her before tying my cape under my collar.

"I've had better nights." Taking a good look at Mystia, she doesn't really look all that tired. I'm guessing she do too much work last night. "Any good business for your stand?"

Her smile answers my question. "I did, actually. I went close to the Youkai Mountain, and a few Tengu stopped by. Though, if you knew I was at the stand, then I guess they were telling the truth." Her smile had quickly faded when she began speaking. So I was right, she did come to talk to me about my resignation.

"They told you?"

She nods. "They were all camped near the Misty Lake when I had reached them. Rumia told me you had left us, but she didn't tell me much and said I should talk to you for more information."

"I see." I couldn't help but sigh. What a nice way to start my day. "She wasn't lying. I did tell them I'm done with the team. I would have told you too, but I didn't know where you were headed with your stand, and I felt that telling you while you were working would be a bad idea."

After leaving the garden, I had found my friends near the Misty Lake, relaxing and recovering from the damage received from Yuuka. Cirno was the first to see me come by, and started asking me what happened. I briefly told her, and then told her I was resigning from the team. Cirno didn't know what that meant, but after explaining what it meant("I quit" seemed to get through to her), and why I was doing it, she wasn't very happy. She started going off about how inviting me was a mistake to begin with and that I didn't deserve any of it, which only proved my point, and I told her that. By that point, it was a tense atmosphere; everyone was quiet. In the end, she simply told me to leave and never to see her again. I'm sure it was just anger talking for her at that point, but I complied and left.

I recap the story to Mystia, and now she looks thoughtful, as well as a little worried.

"After Rumia told me you left, we had a small meeting as to what we would do now. It was decided that we would continue the pranks and games as usually without you." That's nice. "I don't think it will be the same without you, but we all agreed to it."

"That's understandable. I'd feel a little bad if I ended up having the entire group disband because of me."

She sighs and then looks at me. "Well, then, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, actually." I seriously haven't thought that far ahead. "I should start with something good, though."

"... How about joining Choujuu Gigaku? We're looking for a third person to join us."

"Please tell me you aren't seriously asking me that."

Her soft laugh tells me she was expecting that reply. "Come on, don't you think it would at least be a little fun?"

"Of course not. I don't dislike the music you and Kyouko produce, but I can't really myself taking a part in something like that. And admit it, you can't either."

"Alright, fine." She gives in, slowly settling back to her serious demeanor. " Honestly, though, you need to find something to do."

"I know." I'm probably going to be spending a majority of my time on my own now, so the first thing I think I should do is ensure I can take care of myself. It would help me in the event that I have to defend myself from anything, and I don't know that will happen. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at danmaku, but I always was much more capable physically. So I think that should be the first thing I improve. "Do you think there could be someone who can help me in general exercise?"

"Hm... The only person that comes to mind right now is China."

Meiling is nice, and she is a martial artist. Maybe she could help me out with this. The only problem is that she does have to work as a gatekeeper, and I don't know if it would be possible for her to help me with anything without it interfering with her job, but I suppose there's no harm in asking. "That should be fine. I'm going to talk to her later today, then."

"Alright." Mystia slowly began floating in the air. "I'd stay with you, but I need to get ready to practice with Kyouko. Take care of yourself, alright?"

"I will. See you later." With that, she takes to the sky, leaving me alone in the forest. I can start making my way towards the mansion to find Meiling right now, but I have some time to waste, and I haven't done much exploring in the forest in some time. So I'll start walking towards what I believe is the direction to Misty Lake instead. I might find something interesting, anyways.

* * *

I'm assuming an hour or so has passed now.

I made it to the Misty Lake without much interaction with anything else. I did come across the occasional wildlife and come by a rather small pond, but that was all there was. I am a little bit tired of walking, though, and would like to relax a little before making my way to the ridge that the mansion rests on, so I decide to walk up to the lake, remove my footwear, and let my feet soak in the water for a moment. The temperature is slightly cool, which is nice; it made relaxing easier. Slowly letting my back fall onto the grass behind me, I look up to the sky and and enjoy the peace.

…

Something just brushed against my foot.

I want to say it's a fish; it barely grazed over my foot, so it must have just swa-

Okay, no, it just touched my other foot now. I might as well see wha-

Woah!

"What is this!? A foot?"

Someone just shot out of the water, staring at my foot while holding it with one hand, the other holding a small collection of colorful stones. Who the hell is this?

She must be as confused as I am, because her questioning expression slowly shifted to one of horror. "A foot...?" Her dark blue eyes slowly move off of my foot and towards my face. And then she immediately panics, letting go of me as well as dropping all of her stones into the lake before screaming and swimming away...Into a nearby rock.

I don't know who this girl is, but I have a feeling she's kind of clumsy.

I'd feel bad leaving her in the position she put herself in no matter how confused I am, so I get up, grabbing my shoes, and walk up to where she's holding her head in pain. Taking a good look at her, I see she's wearing a green kimono with leaf patterns on it, and... fins sticking out of her blue hair in place of ears. She's probably a water based youkai, then. A mermaid, maybe? "Um.. are you alright?"

She looks at me, and begins panicking again. "Y-yes, I'm fine. I'm so sorry about grabbing your foot like that! I-I didn't mean.. Well I kind of did.. well actually.. I didn't-"

"Slow down, please." I do want to know why she grabbed my foot, but she's talking way too fast. "What were you doing?"

"Well... I was just swimming along the shallow end here, collecting stones, when I felt your foot brush against my head. I didn't see what it was until I grabbed it and took a closer look at it. I'm really sorry." Her voice trailed off towards the end of her story. "...Please don't attack me..."

What?

"Relax, I'm not going to. Are you alright though? That looked like it hurt."

"Huh?" It took her a couple of seconds for her to realize I was talking about the fact that she just smashed her head on a rock. "Oh! Yes, yes.. I'm fine, just a scratch!" her sheepish laugh makes me think otherwise, but I won't question her anymore than I already have. "What bring you to the lake?"

"I was trying to relaxing before going on business." I take another look at her fins. "I'm assuming you live here. Am I wrong?"

"Not at all, you're correct." She sits on the edge of the lake, and I'm able to see that she has a blueish tail with two large fins instead of legs. So she is a mermaid. "It's not all that great, however. It's gets too quiet around here if no one I know is around... Other than that ice fairy who loves to come and terrorize me on occasion." She didn't seem happy to recall that memory, but I don't blame her; if its Cirno she's talking about (and it probably is), then I can understand her disdain. "Anyway, business? Do you work?"

"No, I.." I haven't done much in terms of any kind of job. I've helped Mystia with her lamprey business once before, and helped the team build a small hideout before, gathering supplies, but I don't really have much experience in any other job. At least, I don't think so. " I don't. I'm just going to ask someone I know if they can help me."

"What do you need help with? Perhaps I can be of assistance."

I already know she can't, but why not? "Are you a martial artist?"

She giggles and looks at her tail. "Oh, no. I lack legs for that, and my physical strength is limited. But perhaps that gatekeeper at that mansion can help you, is that who are you going to see?" She must be familiar with some people near the lake, and the mansion is on the edge of the lake to our right, so I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that she knows Meiling.

"That is who I'm going to, actually. I'm not sure if she'll be able to, given she does have a job to do, but I might as well ask."

"Well, The worst she could say is no. If she can't, I'm sure there's someone else that can help." Hold on. She suddenly jumps back into the water, leaving me alone for several seconds before coming out in front of me, holding the stones she had dropped earlier, and showing me an orange stone. "I can't help you with your martial arts, but I want you to have this. It's Carnelian. I believe it's said to help give you physical strength. I'm not sure if you believe in things like that, but here." She offers me the stone, smiling. I'm not sure if it's something I can truly believe, but she's offering, and it would be rude to decline a gift, so I accept it.

"Thank you..." I couldn't really finish my thanks. "I haven't gotten your name yet, have I? I'm Wriggle Nightbug, and you are?" I should have asked this back when she randomly popped up, but now is just as good of a time.

"Wriggle, huh? My name is Wakasagihime, but most people just call me Wakasagi or Waka for short."

Princess Wakasagi, then. Though I'm sure it's not literally accurate, since I'm sure she isn't actually a princess, it's a very nice name.

"Anyways, you better get going." She begins swimming slowly deeper into the lake. "I've heard rumors that the gatekeeper can get drowsy very quickly. You may want to get to her before she gets too tired." Everyone thinks Meiling has a habit of growing tired on her job, but whenever I see her, she's usually wide awake. I don't even know how said rumor even came to be. I should ask Meiling someday.

"I suppose I should. It was a pleasure speaking to you, Wakasagi. Thanks again for the Carnelian, I'll be sure to give you something in return soon."

"There is no need to give me anything back. Consider it as a gift."

"If you say so." She probably won't want me to, but I'm still going to find something to give to her in return. I'd feel bad otherwise. Before I continue my way, though, I'd like to make sure I don't end up in an awkward situation. "Oh, um... you mentioned an ice fairy earlier. Have you seen her around this lake at all today?"

"The ice fairy? She came by earlier today, but flew off with her friends. I haven't seen her since." Alright, so I shouldn't have to worry about bumping into Cirno on my way.

"Okay, thank you. I'll see you later, then." I get a wave from Wakasagi's hand before she disappears under the water, leaving me alone. With nothing more to do, I start walking around the lake to the side of the mansion, which is slightly visible from where I am now.

In the end, I didn't really get much rest at the lake.

* * *

**This chapter didn't exactly go the way I had imagined it would, but it didn't exactly come out all that bad, either. **

**Not much happened, but I'm still coming up with what I will do later on, and hopefully that will be sometime soon.**

**Again, special thanks to a friend whom helped me in structuring some of this chapter.**

**Hopefully, the next chapter will come out faster.**

******Till then, I hope you liked it.**


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